Testament definitely have a bit of a problem with gaps between albums these days. I seen an interview with Chuck Billy who stated their promoter wouldn't book them on a new tour until a new album was definitely coming out, and that was last year so it still took them a little while. Slayer have never really been in that boat. I'd love them to bring back the Unholy Alliance tour before they laid it all to rest.

Crave: It's kind of an interesting thought to me that one of the pioneers of thrash metal has a day job. What do you do for a living?
CB: I do safety for a trucking company. I travel around 11 states and give safety lectures.

Crave: Does anyone ever recognize you from Testament?
CB: Yeah, I got 400 drivers that drive for me and a lot of them are metal fans. They always call me when we come on the radio. I started probably ten years ago when my wife got into a bad car wreck. A buddy of mine since I was five years old, his parents owned a trucking company and they haul US Mail. We always used to practice at this trucking company. He understands the music business and understands what I do so he lets me go on tour and do records. When I got cancer a few years ago, I had a great health plan. If I didn't have it I would probably have lost my house and everything I own. So at this point, it's basically keeping health insurance for my family, but I actually enjoy the routine of getting up and doing my thing every day. Not to mention, he pays me very well, so I do alright every year doing music and working for a living.

You're kidding yourself if you think the guys in Slaye aren't financially secure at this point. Since RIB they have been one of the most consistanly successful and in demand metal bands in the world. While their albums don't sell what they used to, they still sell very respectable. Between Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, Slayer is the band that has maintained the bulk of their fanbase through the years. The reason they keep touring is because the demand is always there from fans to see them. Also, when you've been doing that for 30 years, you know nothing else except to go tour because that's how you make your money. Just look at all the big tours they've been on the last few years. They're co-headlining mayhem for the second time and they've had tours with Megadeth and Rob Zombie and let's not forget about the big four stuff either. It doesn't seem to me the band is having much of a cash flow problem unless the individual members are just bad with money and don't know how to manage it. Otherwise, it appears to me that the band is doing just fine financially. They haven't had too many down periods either and they've always been good at keeping their name out there.

I guess I'm just being needlessly skeptic. I know that the guys in Slayer are probably pretty well off financially, hell they're probably one of the most merchandised metal bands around. I'm not saying they have a cash flow problem either, what I am saying though is that unless they were really smart with their money and have a ton saved, they probably can't retire at their age. Again, in Tom's case he has a family, which means he's got expenses all over the place. If I remember right, you've got a few years on me so you'd certainly know this better than I would, but from what I understand, having a really good cash flow for 25 years doesn't mean you can just stop working and retire at age 50 and have a comfortable lifestyle for yourself and your family for the rest of your life. My whole point is that as long as the Slayer dudes have reasonably high expenses that require them to keep earning money (families being the obvious one), then I don't think we have to worry about them ending their touring. I mean, Randy Blythe apparently earns under 200k a year and LoG is one of the most successful modern metal bands around. What he probably earns is still really really high by most standards, but he probably isn't a multimillionaire or anything crazy.

Then again, what do I know, I'm just a 19 year old college student. I could very well be full of shit. (And if I am, you're more than welcome to point it out haha)

200k is more than your ave person man, I'm gonna say roughly 150k more. And if you make that a year for a couple of years or for your career and aren't set in life to retire at age 50 then I don't know what to tell ya.

I'm positive Slayer will at least do a farewell tour prior to retiring though. Just saying get your Slayer fix while you can. Plus its Mayhem fest, it's always fun.

Dimebag Darrell's estate was worth $700,000 when he passed. Pantera sold around 15 million albums worldwide not to mention their DVDs, merch, etc.

Slayer has sold around 10 million albums worldwide. Their DVD sales are ok & there merch sales are good for a band of their stature.

$700,000.00 is alot of $. However, I don't see a person who spends $ like a rockstar or has bills like they probably have being able to retire at age 50 and live comfortably for the next 20 years. It's good $ but that is 20 years worth of taxes, bills, upkeep on houses/vehicles, health insurance combined with there band not touring, royalities shrinking, merch not selling as well due to the band being out of the public eye, etc.

And I don't believe any one member of Slayer has made as much $ as Dime did. Those guys could retire at age 60 on that if they lived to be 75. Not at age 50 though.

pantera is probably not the best example to use to gauge another comparable bands worth. they obviously blew ridiculous amounts of money on partying and destroying things. also factor in damageplan was surely a large step down in the money they were bringing in, but probably were blowing money as if they were still pantera.

granted i dont know much about their lifestyles, but slayer strike me as pretty tame and unextravagant in comparison. not to mention they have been at it far longer and have been relatively big the majority of that time. if there is one underground metal band that is financially set for quite some time its probably them.

pantera is probably not the best example to use to gauge another comparable bands worth. they obviously blew ridiculous amounts of money on partying and destroying things. also factor in damageplan was surely a large step down in the money they were bringing in, but probably were blowing money as if they were still pantera.

granted i dont know much about their lifestyles, but slayer strike me as pretty tame and unextravagant in comparison. not to mention they have been at it far longer and have been relatively big the majority of that time. if there is one underground metal band that is financially set for quite some time its probably them.

Tom I agree with you BUT they are talking retirement. Serious retirement. I don't think they can make it... especially if they live to their eighties. No telling what the costs of everyday necessities like gas, food, bills would cost 10 years from now let alone 30... not to mention most musicians retirements used to be funded by royalty checks. Illegal downloading has destroyed that. Once they are retired the cash flow more or less stops unless there is a reunion or new project.